


A Mouse's Courage

by AParticularlyLargeBear



Series: Shadowrun College [4]
Category: Shadowrun
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Club 88, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-11
Updated: 2015-10-11
Packaged: 2018-04-25 20:24:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4975294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AParticularlyLargeBear/pseuds/AParticularlyLargeBear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a phonecall from home goes awry, Duncan gets some answers he wasn't sure he wanted.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Mouse's Courage

Conversations with Raymond Black were never what Duncan would call easy, especially not over the phone. His father had a way of phrasing things, posing questions, which just cut right to the bone. Sure, Duncan knew it was because Raymond had his best interests at heart, but that didn’t mean it was never uncomfortable. Or, to be frank, kind of _boring_.

In the midst of a long stream of rhetoric about how ‘good enough’ was a standard that began to slip over time, Duncan did his best to hide an exasperated noise, rolling his eyes. Sprawled out on a sofa (which she practically overhung, given her typically trollish stature), his sister, Jenny, looked up at him with a grin. They weren’t blood, but they were as good as, and if anyone knew what Raymond’s parenting was like it was Jen.

She mimed a yawn. Duncan choked down a laugh.

“Duncan?”

“Sorry, Ray, slight cough.”

“I see,” Raymond continued on with whatever obscure point he’d been making. Duncan made a face at Jenny. She made one back.

“In any case, think about what I’ve said. Is your sister there?”

“Sure is. I’ll talk to you later, dad,” he glanced to Jenny, held out his phone. “He’s asking for you, Jen,” Duncan handed it over, and then leaned back against the wall with arms folded.

“Hey, Ray! How are you?” said Jenny, speaking English. An uneasy feeling shot through Duncan’s stomach as he heard Raymond’s voice in his head: ‘In Cantonese, Jenny.’ – right on cue, she winced from the rebuke Duncan knew had come from the other end of the line.

Jenny never spoke to Ray in English unless she was anxious about something, and the last time Jenny had cause to be anxious was when she came home from juvy.  

She spoke again, in Cantonese this time. “I just wanted to check up on you, Ray. No, I- Well, yeah, but-,” Jenny looked over at Duncan and screwed up her face. Seemed as if she was getting the full Intense-O-Ray treatment. He’d always been hard on the two of them, pushed them to learn, to do well at school, to stay out of trouble. However, ever since Jenny got busted for punching out a police officer, well… to say that Ray had cracked down on her would be an understatement. Duncan didn’t even recall Raymond _talking_ about Jenny during the year-and-change she’d been locked up.

“Yes ... Yes ... Ye- … Sorry ... No, sorry … I _am_ listening! … sorry ... Right.”

Wasn’t often that Ray got Jenny in full retreat like that; she _did_ have something to be worried about.

“My assignments? Well… I got two As, two Bs. And a C,” she said that last one quietly, as if Ray somehow would overlook it.

Duncan grimaced. Yeah. That’d do it.

“I thought I knew the material a little better- … well _yeah_ I’ve asked the professor about- … I’m reviewing the subject- … No, it doesn’t count towards my final grade- … … That wasn’t what I meant, Ray!” Jenny clenched a fist, scraping her knuckles along the table. She’d always had a knack for diffusing things between Ray and him, and simply not being there if Ray was angry at her. Lately, Jenny had lacked for that elusiveness, and there was nowhere to run on the end of a phone.

“Yes, I did my best. … What? That wasn’t an excuse! I was just- … I was- … Let me _finish_ Ray! I was just saying that I _tried!_ I thought that was what was important to you!”

Duncan stared at her, mouth hanging open a little. Oh, that was _not_ going to go down well. Ray had always tried to impress his philosophies upon the two of them, and hell, Duncan wasn’t one to say that they were bad pieces of wisdom. Maybe a bit corny sometimes, but it was better than what they’d got living on the street. Having those philosophies turned back on him though? Dear god. Duncan had only seen Jenny to do that twice, and both times she’d received the deep freeze in return.

And by the expression on her face; jaw locked tight, nostrils flared, the trembling hands, she was getting it now, too.

“You aren’t listening to- … You. Aren’t. Listening,” Jenny was seething now. She didn’t lose her temper often – they hadn’t called her ‘Mouse’ back in the squats for nothing – but when she did…

“I just want to treat me like an adult for once. … Of course I ca- Of COURSE I care about- …” Jenny made a wordless snarl of frustration, then returned the phone to her ear.

“You know what, Ray? Fuck you.”

She hung up.

Duncan gaped.

That had not just happened.

Jenny turned to him, angrily swiping a sleeve across her eyes. When she spoke again her voice was thick, choked.

“C’mon Duncan. I’m gonna go get smashed.”

 

* * *

 

Jenny missed the glass as she aimed for it with her hand, only managing to grasp it at the third attempt. Tipping it back, an expression of childlike, amazed wonder struck her as she finally noticed it was empty. Duncan sighed. He’d made a resolution to keep away from the drink since coming to college, and he’d done a great job of keeping to it so far. Jen had a hell of a lot of stamina when it came to drinking, so it said something that she’d managed to get _this_ wasted.

She made a vague gesture towards the bartender. “Heyyya, Henry. Henrrrry. Can I get another over here?”

The aged troll behind the bar looked Jenny up and down. Then he calmly, but firmly laid his hands down on the surface.

“You’ve had enough, Mouse.”

Jenny looked back at Henry for a long time, and then gave a very slow nod. “All right. Cheers, Henry,” she rose unsteadily to her feet, smiled to the barkeep, and turned towards Duncan.

Thank fuck for that. Duncan didn’t feel like trying to talk Jenny out of hauling off on Club 88’s bouncer, Freddy. He _liked_ this club; he didn’t want Jenny to get banned from it; would make their very intermittent nights out awkward.

Jenny stumbled suddenly, and before Duncan could catch her, all but belly-flopped onto someone’s table, spilling their beer everywhere.

“Shit, sorry,” said Duncan hastily. The girl at the table – alone, now that Duncan had a moment to look – just shrugged.

“It’s fine. I wasn’t drinking it anyway,” she leaned over to Jenny and helped her up, the girl’s sleeveless vest revealing the glint of two rather bulky cybernetic arms. Whoa, that was kind of hardcore.

“Right, thanks, sorry.”

“Heyy there,” Jenny said with a lopsided grin. “M’Jenny, what’s your name?”

The girl blinked, taken aback. “Glory.”

“Good t’meet you!”

“Jenny, come on, we’re going home,” with some considerable effort, Duncan looped Jenny’s arm around him. Bloody hell, she was a deadweight.

“Do you need a hand?”

Duncan looked across at Glory, raising an eyebrow. “It’s kind of a ways back to the dorm.”

Glory shrugged. “I was about done with the club anyway. My friends dragged me out.”

“And they won’t wonder where you went?”

Glory’s lips turned up very very slightly at the corners, and she jerked her head towards the dancefloor. A guy with a red mohawk, wearing a ragged leather coat, was rocking out with only the vaguest concession towards rhythm. A little past him, a pair of girls had arms around one another, swaying gently to and fro with some serious eye contact going on.

Duncan looked back, and Glory shrugged again. “Yeah, they won’t even notice I’m gone.”

Taking a moment to eye his inebriated – and very heavy – sister, Duncan nodded. “All right. Yeah. Could use a hand.”

Together, they negotiated their way out of Club 88, past Freddy on the door, and out into the night, Duncan taking the lead to guide the three of them down the street.

“Hey, heyy, Duncan, we’ve gotta go back,” Jenny suddenly slurred, after ten minutes or so.

Duncan eyed her. “Why?” he asked dubiously.

“That one ork girl from our dorm was there.”

“...So?”

“I gotta give her my number,” Jenny nodded assertively.

Duncan made a noise of disgust. “No, you don’t.”

“I totally do!”

“You’re wasted, Jen, and we’re going home.”

“Fine,” a brief pause. “Well, will _you_ give’er my number?”

“No!”

Jenny growled, sounding like an enormous puppy. She looked to Glory. “How ‘bout you?”

Glory stared at her, then gave a minute shake of the head.

“Fuuuck,” Jenny sounded utterly defeated.

“Maybe when you’re sober,” Duncan reassured her. A dreamy smile came and went on his sister’s face. Good enough for now.

Jenny stayed quiet for a while after that, allowing Duncan and Glory to lead her along. When he wasn’t making sure Jenny’s arm was stable around his shoulder, Duncan spared the odd glance for the other girl. Her face was practically expressionless most of the time, a stoic mask framed by long black hair. Pale, too – ghostly so, to the point where he had to wonder if she was entirely well. There were those prosthetics she was wearing; maybe she had some kind of medical condition? Wasn’t often you saw someone Glory’s age with such heavy duty cyber, not with all the advances in limb replacement technology.

Glory glanced back at him. Her face remained just as impassive as before, but she arched an eyebrow. Duncan averted his eyes, embarrassed. He hadn’t meant to stare, there just wasn’t exactly much else to do when dragging a drunk troll along a street, particularly as Glory didn’t seem interested in making conversation.

There was a nudge from Jenny. Duncan looked to her, and found her eyes to be surprisingly clear, with none of the alcohol-fuelled glassiness. When she spoke, it was slowly, still tripping over her tongue, but carefully, with conviction.

“Hey. Duncan? Somethin’ you shoul’ know.”

“Sure, go ahead,” Duncan helped Jenny up onto the pavement.

“It wasn’t me.”

For a second, Duncan wasn’t sure what she meant. Had she pulled some kind of stupid drunken prank that he hadn’t noticed?

Then it hit him. His mouth ran dry. “…What do you mean, it wasn’t you?”

“The cop. Wasn’t me.”

“The cop?” Glory’s tone was interested, although her face remained unreadable. Duncan started. Shit, right, they weren’t alone.

“Jen, maybe this isn’t the time for-“

“I got arrested,” Jenny spoke over him. “Was in juvy for year an’ a half. Hit a cop. Knocked ‘em out. Only I didn’t.”

Duncan’s heart was beginning to pound. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“D’ya ‘member what I said, the night I left?”

How could he forget? Duncan had replayed that conversation dozens of times in his head, trying to work out what he could have said, what he could have done, whether he should have just slugged Jenny in the jaw and dragged her inside until she saw some damn sense. A million and one different things. And he’d done none of them. He’d just let her go.

“Yeah,” he murmured. “You said your friend was in trouble.”

“She was. There was this cop shaking her down; wanted me to talk to him.”

“To talk to him,” Duncan said flatly. Yeah, sure.  _Conversation._

Jenny shook her head. “Not what you think. She really did mean it like that. But then he got aggro and she cold cocked him.”

Duncan just stared at her.

“She had a kid, Duncan. A baby. Couldn’t let ‘em put her away.”

“You took the fall,” Glory spoke quietly – she’d been so silent that Duncan had forgotten she was there.

Jen nodded.

And she hadn’t told him this? She’d fucking let herself get busted for something she didn’t do, and she _hadn’t told him?_ Nearly two years she’d been- two fucking years of barely seeing her, of having to deal with being on his own and… and…

“FUCK!”

Duncan tore away from Jen and stalked off into the night - voices called out behind him, but he ignored them, unhearing. He didn’t know where he was going. He didn’t _care_ where. Abandoning him was bad enough, but leaving him in the dark, leaving _Ray_ in the dark, letting them both think she’d slid back into Barrens life…

Fuck. _Fuck._

He just- he needed- he needed some time.


End file.
